Are You Ready?
by quishaweasley
Summary: Maddie is awoken in the middle of the night and is struck with horror after a realization is made.


It was a quiet night in Amity Park. The shops were closed, the children asleep, and dinner eaten.

All was well for the night.

Or at least it was until a blaring noise woke Maddie Fenton from her peaceful slumber, full of dreams about science and inventing.

Opening her eyes, Maddie turned to their clock-like ghost alarm sitting on her bedside table, it's light flashing red. Groggily getting up, Maddie swung her feet to the ground, hitting the snooze button.

She stood up and picked up the new hand held tracking device from her dresser to inspect what ghost was on the loose tonight. It displayed an array of information about the ghost. How far away it was, how large it was and the sorts.

It also displayed the ectoplasmic power level of the ghost.

This one was a level eight.

They didn't get that many level eights on any of their trackers. Most of the ghosts that they saw were formless or were more like animals.

Maddie was hoping this level eight was Phantom.

Maddie set down the tracker and began changing into one of her jumpsuits, preparing to go out into the night.

Phantom somehow managed to elude all of their tracking devices. It was as if he was invisible to them, like they just didn't pick him up.

But she also knew that there were times he did register so she didn't know the reasoning behind this. Surely it couldn't be that he was tampering with their equipment?

Right?

Once Maddie was dressed, she grabbed a bazooka from underneath her bed and quietly left the room, leaving her bulky husband to sleep on through his dreams of fudge.

She exited the house without disturbing her slumbering family members and began her trek through town. The night seemed quiet and undisturbed. The crickets were chirping and clouds were floating soundlessly through the sky.

Suddenly, Maddie saw a glow at the edge of her vision. Turning, she saw him gliding through the night sky on his back, admiring the stars.

Phantom.

He was reclining in the air, drifting past buildings while looking at the constellations. His hair billowed in the wind, the snowy locks a star themselves.

Maddie thought he looked peaceful. His spirit at ease.

But he was a ghost.

And ghosts could not feel peace or ease.

Maddie readied her bazooka, taking aim. Once she had her sights locked on Phantom, she fired. A boom hollering through the night air.

The shot landed on Phantom's back, going through until it came out his stomach. He clenched his stomach, removing an ectoplasm soaked hand to look at it in horror before he fell from the sky.

A crash could be heard and Maddie once again took out her tracker until she made her way to an alley. Phantom had crashed into a cluster of trash cans, some of which had toppled over and spilled their contents around him.

As Maddie approached, she could see his electric green eyes wide open, staring at nothing ahead of him. As her foot landed on a plastic chip bag, she could see Phantom jump and sit up taller from his position against a garbage can. His expression looked so wounded.

So afraid.

"Mom…" Phantom whispered.

"Mom?" Maddie exclaimed, both offended and confused. But he went on without explaining himself.

His eyes glassy, Phantom began rambling. "I didn't mean for this to happen. That wasn't _supposed_ to happen. I should've listened to Jazz before going out tonight. I should've listened."

As Phantom's rambling went on, Maddie inched her way closer, seeing frost begin to creep from where he was sitting on the ground. She kneeled down beside him, her bazooka still at the ready in her hand. She looked at Phantom, whose eyes were finally focused, staring straight into her own.

"I'm not ready." Phantom whispered fearfully, looking past her into the alley. "I knew it would happen at some point. Eventually. Maybe I'd die of old age or of cancer or something, but not here in an alley. I'm not ready to die."

What?

He was already dead.

He looked back into her face, his eyes seemingly getting heavier with each passing minute.

"Mom I'm not ready to go." He whispered. "Because for some reason when I die, I know I won't be coming back this time."

"What are you talking about?" Maddie whispered in a hush voice, using a motherly tone on this seemingly frightened ghost.

He smiled at her, a sad a regretful smile.

"I never told you… Or dad. I never told you guys what happened. I was scared. I was worried what you guys would do." He chuckled, thinking about whatever irony his mind has come up with. "I should've just told you."

After that, his eyes closed and his breathing became more erratic.

Maddie grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Told me what?" She asked anxiously, though she knew not why.

Phantom's eyes opened one last time, though they were not their normal electric green.

They were a pale, human blue. With speckles of dark navy mixed in. They were all too familiar.

Those were Danny's eyes.

She began scanning Phantom's face, horror growing deep inside her as recognition finally was made in her brain.

And before she could talk herself out of what was happening, a light appeared around Phantom's waist and traveled across his body, leaving behind a very familiar white t shirt.

In Phantom's place Danny was left, blood mixing with the ectoplasm left on the ground. Maddie stared at him in horror, tears in her eyes.

All those times their equipment malfunctioned around Danny, all those times Danny went missing.

 _And this was the reason._

Maddie fumbled with her belt, procuring a phone.

A phone Danny insisted she buy after they got stranded in Colorado.

She shakily dialed a number and waited, the line ringing.

"Hello, 911 what is your emergency?"

"My son." She whispered.

Minutes later, after the phone call, sirens could be heard in the distance, accompanied by a sorrowful wail traveling through the night.


End file.
